The First Riddle
by TheImpossiblePuzzle
Summary: The first in a series of short stories, in which a group of childhood heroes attempt to combat a series of mysterious happenings within their own minds. Loosely inspired off of my own memories and past.


**This will be the first story in a continuation of short stories that are all connected with each other in some way. These stories contain references to my life and memories of my past. If you're looking for something strictly for entertainment, this may not be the series stories for you. If you're just bored and want to hear about a few things that's happened in some guy's life, go right ahead.**

Riddle 1

Happiness

Today was a day unlike any other. Today was going to be the best day of my life!

After being lost for years, with only the short company of two plumbers to keep me happy, I have finally found friends. So many friends! And they're exactly like me! They love riddles, puzzles, and games! And today was going to be a day full of riddles, puzzles, and games!

My two best friends were coming back from their latest adventure today, too. I heard they went to some sort of other dimension or something... I'm not too certain. They travel around a lot...

But that doesn't matter right now. What matter is that my new friends and I were going to play a game. A wonderful, fun-filled game! A wonderful, fun-filled game with riddles and puzzles!

The game is called Troopas. We all shall gather around and be handed cards by a host, showing whether we are a Toad or a Troopa. The Toads' goal is to find out who among the group of friends is a Troopa. The Troopas' goal is to make it so that they out-number the Toads'.

There is a system of voting. Everyone votes for who is the most suspicious. Whoever gets voted off has to show their card to everyone and leave the room.

I was very excited for this game. I woke up very early in the morning and rushed outside the shack I lived in, jumping down a green pipe and popping out the other side minutes later, finding myself in Toad Town. I rushed through many streets, doing my best not to bump into anyone.

I was very fast, so getting to the building in time was a snap. My friends and I had chosen an old abandoned building in town to play the game in. They said it helped with the atmosphere.

The old building, now that I got a better look at it, scared me a little. The grayish-brown building reminded me of some place... I could've sworn I had seen it before. The building was large, and was once used as a warehouse for some Mushroom Kingdom resources. Have I seen a place like that before? I don't believe I have...

I shook my head, attempting to escape the dreadful feeling. I couldn't, however. I had to look around a bit more.

Stepping closer to the entrance of the building, I carefully examined the doors. They were large, wooden doors, with 'ABANDONED' spray-painted onto them. Backing up and getting a better view of the building, I noticed that it was quite small for a warehouse. It looked like it could easily fit and house thirty people, but something about it's size seemed off. It wasn't shaped like a mushroom, like some buildings in the town. Instead, it was a large, stone square. At least, I thought it was stone. I walked up to the front doors again and this time turned to my left to examine the wall.

The wall, as I noted before, had a grayish-brown tint. However, I noted something about the wall that I did not manage to see before; there were a few cracks in it. Not many, but enough to make you worry.

I shrugged the feeling of worry off, deciding that I had spent enough time examining the building I was about to enter. I went up to the front doors a third and final time, grabbing the large handle of one of the doors and pulling it open.

* * *

_I was happy._

_Was._

_There was a time where I had friends, where I had a great time playing games with these friends, but now they are all my enemies. They look at me with hate and disgust. They try to lie to me, make me think that they are actually my friends and that they actually care about me, but I know that my life means nothing to them._

_It was time I told them what I knew._

_It was time to solve the first riddle._

* * *

I slowly opened my eyes, though closed them again as quickly as I could when they were met with a bright, white light.

I was scared. Very, very scared. Was I dead?

Deciding not to jump to conclusions just yet, I stopped myself from thinking such horrible things and instead decided to focus on what I had witnessed before I ended up in this situation. I was walking into the building, and... I don't remember. I don't remember!

Amnesia was a scary thing, but I heard it was rare... I hated the thought of losing my memories. I love them too much.

But I had a clue as to what I did, at least. Between me entering the building and finding myself here, faced with a great white light, I had seen and heard a message. It was strange, really. While I was reading the message, I heard myself speaking to me, in a dull, dark voice. I sounded like I had the life sucked out of me. And... hearing myself say all of those horrible things... I couldn't stand to think about it any longer.

Armed with my thoughts, I decided to open my eyes once more. The bright light hit my eyes yet again, but my eyes fought back, adjusting to the light and giving me a clearer view of the room I was in. I tried to get up off of my back, only to realize that something was keeping me down. I twisted my head to the right and examined my right arm; it wasn't strapped to anything. I checked my left arm. Same thing.

Finally, I managed to tilt my head far enough forward to examine my feet. They weren't bound by anything, either. As insane as it sounded, I believed that whatever was keeping me down was invisible. I felt a large pressure on my entire being, keeping me held to whatever surface I was currently laying on.

I decided it was best to examine the world around me. Looking to my right, I saw... Darkness. Wait, darkness? Why is there darkness when there's a bright light in front of me?

I shook my head, telling myself I was just seeing things. I looked to my left... More darkness. Dang it!

I saw no other choice. The last thing to examine was the light in front of me. I prepared my eyes and turned my head towards the bright light, attempting to make out what was causing it.

... Nothing. Nothing was causing the light. At least, nothing I could see from this far away. It almost seemed like the light was an entity all on its own.

I was convinced I was losing my marbles. I attempted to lift my legs, my arms, my head, anything! I needed to get back on my feet and get out of here! I needed to get out of here!

* * *

_I was happy._

_Was._

_The day I learned the truth was the day I received a letter from someone who hadn't talked to me much. He was much, much older than me, so we weren't exactly compatible, personality-wise. I opened the letter and read the note._

_"Dear Yoshi,_

_Why can't you just leave? You're horrible. You have no idea how to talk with anyone, and you keep using the same joke over and over again. You're stupid, too. You may love riddles and puzzles, but you are absurdly bad at them. You shouldn't be hanging out with us. Go to your special school friends and leave us alone!"_

_This was when I knew how everyone felt about me. Everyone except the older man talked to me from then on... But because of that letter, I knew that whatever words or compliments they throw my way were nothing but lies. Cruel, cruel lies..._

* * *

A note. I found a note, just like the one I had seen again. It appeared to my left, and it appeared to be floating at just the right angle for me to be able to read it. I had no idea how it was floating, but I felt I could ignore the logical impossibility for a short while to read what the note contained.

... Sadly enough, it was another depressing note, read by a dull me. No, I couldn't call whatever was reading the note 'me'. The thing that was narrating the thoughts on that piece of paper was not me. It was a dark, sad being that was being pushed away by it's friends. But I wasn't that being. I was only just getting to know my friends! This can't apply to me!

Suddenly, the bright light got brighter. Even with my head tilted to the left, I had to close my eyes to stop the light from blinding them.

* * *

**Thanks for reading.**

**In case you're wondering, the game I mentioned in the story, 'Troopas'... It's a reference to game I used to play with a few friends when I was younger. It was pretty popular in our school. Perhaps you can discover for yourself the name of the real life version of the game... I'd rather not think about it right now.**


End file.
